Unleash The Tiger!vernon White Ready To Take On Freeman At Ufc 43
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Unleash The Tiger! Vernon White Ready to Take on Freeman at UFC 43 By Loretta Hunt
Although it is not quite official yet, Vernon "Tiger" White verified that he has verbally committed to a match-up with British brawler Ian "The Machine" Freeman at UFC 43: Meltdown on June 6th in Las Vegas. Pending contract formalities, White will be replacing fellow Lion’s Den member and patriarch Ken Shamrock, who recently tore his ACL and will be unable to compete. (Shamrock could not be reached for comment.) Although White is coming off a highly-publicized light-heavyweight title loss to Miletich Fighting Systems representative Jeremy Horn from May 17th’s King Of The Cage 23, his ten years’ experience in the sport makes him a worthy successor to fill Shamrock’s vacancy. With a whopping 26 fights in Japan’s Pancrase organization, two appearances in PRIDE, and his most recent match-ups in KOTC (where he reigned as their light-heavyweight champ for a time), White has been a longtime candidate of hard-core fans to gain entry into America’s top MMA promotion. The proposed bout will remain in the heavyweight division (205-265 pounds), which translates into an easing off of his usually strict diet, explained White. White weighed in at 198 pounds for his last bout, but has also fought at heavyweight in the past. As for his last minute acceptance, the always-frank White made no qualms about his long-awaited invitation into the Octagon. "I feel like it’s about time," he commented from his home in California. "There was a lot of politics in the past that were keeping me from getting in there — different matchmakers that didn’t like me (for what reasons I had no idea) and then having to fight in different organizations — so it’s definitely been a longtime coming. I’m going to give the fans what they’re looking for." And as for his recent loss to Horn, who will most likely be cornering teammate and training partner Freeman come fight night, White had this to say. "To tell you the truth, I’m not going to look at that as a loss. I’m going to look at that as a screwing and go on with my life." White is 20-23-1 in professional MMA action. Freeman sports a 14-6 record and is a 5-Time UFC veteran (3-2). |
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HOOKnSHOOT Absolute Fighting Championships 3 Results By Keith Mills Ft. Lauderdale, FL — Jens Pulver lost his second fight in a row mainly due to receiving two groin strikes from opponent Jason Maxwell while giving one in return, possibly jeopardizing his SHOOTO negotiations in progress at this time. The fight was actually ended when Jens was on his back with Jason on top delivering strikes to his face but he never seemed to recover from the low blows.
Elsewhere on the card Jennifer Howe won the HOOKnSHOOT 125 belt by beating Tara LaRosa. Jennifer knocked down Tara four times in one round, proving superstitious speculation the women’s belt is cursed to be false. Jennifer came out a little tentatively and lived up to polite criticism she tends to not get started until she gets hit for the first time, taking one good shot from Tara before switching gears and counter punching with combinations. With this belt changed from the women’s 135 at virtually the last minute when Debi Purcell tore her ACL on the eve of signing a contract for this fight and Angela Restad injuring her neck both fighters stepped up to the plate with almost no time to train specifically for each other. Tara deserves credit for taking the fight when she was preparing to take on Christine Van Fleet, a fighter with a totally different style than Howe.
Also American Top Team’s Marcus Aurelio retained his Southeast 155 belt by defending against Darrell Smith, making him the only person to hold two regional HOOKnSHOOT belts at one time. Aurelio’s jiu-jitsu is incredible as witnessed by his defense of his Northeast belt in Boston’s HOOKnSHOOT franchise Ring Of Fury earlier this month.
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 Results from Ultimate Ring Challenge 5 Held May 24, 2003 At the Saint Martin’s College Lacey, Washington By Mike Neva
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From the event’s promoter: RITC 49 – Stare Down Fan Appreciation Night!!! Saturday, Jun 7, 2003 Celebrity Theatre Phoenix, AZ Doors Open: 6 PM, Fight Time: 7:30 PM Ticket Prices: $15 (rows 14-25), $25 (rows 1-13). The first 500 advanced tickets purchased at the Celebrity Theatre Box Office will receive a FREE RITC T-SHIRT. Rage in the Cage fans are in for a real treat. RITC is offering a fantastic fight card, unbelievable roll back ticket prices, free RITC T-Shirts and other activities for this special fan appreciation night. Miss RITC Contest with the Arizona Dream Girls. The RITC UFC pre-fight party and RITC 49 post-fight party will be at: June 6 – UFC Party, $2 cover
Fight Card subject to change. Order your $25 Row 1 – 13 or $15 row 14 – 25 tickets now by calling 602-267-1600. Note: John Renken sustained a training injury (ankle) that may require surgery. He will not be fighting in RITC 49. Upcoming Events:
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From the event’s promoter: U.S. SHOOTO is Heating Up… This coming Saturday on May 31st, professional SHOOTO hits the Hammond Civic Center – 5852 S. Sohl Avenue, Hammond, IN – for the second time, in the form of the Midwest Fighting Championship. This show promises to top the previous Hammond event and all other mainland shows before it. There are 8 very competitive bouts scheduled, which will serve up several courses hot Midwest talent, PLUS a pair of highly anticipated U.S.A. vs. Brazil match-ups. Furthermore, every bout on this line-up has something at stake, from establishing a presence in the SHOOTO circuit (in which you immediately receive attention at an international level), to setting oneself up in the soon to be released SHOOTO Americas rankings (watch out for them in July along with the SHOOTO Pacific-rim rankings), and finally to solidifying a place in the SHOOTO World rankings and getting a shot at the highly touted and currently vacant Shooto MW title. The show is stacked with features including the HOT Midwest Fighting girls and Hooter girls who will be on hand to spice things up. We would also like to extend a special thanks to the official hotel for the Midwest Fighting Championship – The Best Western Northwest Indiana Inn. Any one who is traveling to the show or just wants to hang out with the competitors call for reservations and mention the show. You will get a special room rate of $69 (subject to availability, Best Western Northwest Indiana Inn For the card, we have four Class-A bouts topping things off. Jake Shields of San Francisco is coming in with his sites set on the number 2 spot in the World rankings and a shot at the World belt. He also is looking to get some redemption on the current number 1 ranker Ray Cooper whom defeated Shields in a very close decision out in Hawaii. His opponent Milton Vieira is hungry to break into the SHOOTO and U.S. scene and will come to fight. He is a crafty BJJ player but Jake may have the better all around game. More Class-A action has the Chicago land’s own Dan Gilbert going in against Luis "Buscape" whom a lot of people have talking about lately. As Vieira’s teammate, he also has top-level BJJ skills and this looks like the classic Wrestling vs. BJJ scenario. Then we have the VERY experienced Brian Gassaway taking on Keith Hackney prot posted by Full Contact Fighter @ 8:00 pm
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